


Rustling Leaves

by what_thc_fuck



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Death, F/M, Goodbye, levi/petra - Freeform, rivetra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 06:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14372646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_thc_fuck/pseuds/what_thc_fuck
Summary: No regrets, huh?  Easier said than done, especially when having to bury the one you love.  This wasn't just another body, this was HERS.





	Rustling Leaves

Silence.

Pure silence.

Both in heart and soul.

That was all the Captain heard as he stood over the body, _**HER**_ body. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing there, looking at the twisted and mangled form, the neck propped at an unnatural angle, _**HER**_ neck. His entire squad had been eliminated in one fatal swoop. His friends, his colleagues, his soldiers, they were all gone, leaving him to start over… again. Throughout his life, Levi had been surrounded by death, it was nothing new to him. It was nothing more than a natural event. An eventuality. People come and people go, it is the way of life, which was why Levi tried to never get too attached, but… no. This was just another body. Just another casualty. And it was time to start treating it as such.

“Captain Levi?” came a voice from behind him, the veteran soldier so distracted with his thoughts he didn’t even hear the subordinate approach, even with the crunch of the drying forest leaves underfoot.

“Humm?” the Captain responded, his eyes never leaving the body, _**HER** _ body.

“T-that’s the last one, sir,” the younger man stuttered, feeling the awkward tension surrounding his superior officer.

“She.”

“…excuse me, sir?”

“She’s the last one.”

_**Shit. Did he just break his cardinal rule and refer to the dead as an individual?** _

The younger soldier nodded, quickly becoming uncomfortable by the officer’s unusual behavior. “S-she’s the last one. I need to—“

“Leave it,” Levi cut off his subordinate, his words sharp, but only enough to make his point without any further questions being asked. “I’ll do it.”

There was another unsteady nod from the soldier who knew better than to press his luck with the Captain. So instead of insisting, the youth placed an extra blanket on the ground, taking a few hesitant steps away, cautiously moving backwards to not alarm the temperamental beast.

“Yes, sir.”

This time, Levi heard the soft crinkle of the leaves signifying he was once again along with the body, _**HER**_ body. He shouldn’t have been doing this, he was too close to this one, to _**HER.**_ He should have let someone else do it, but he couldn’t. Not with _**HER.**_

Kneeling next to the trunk, the Captain placed his arm behind the body’s shoulders, _**HER** _ shoulders, and gently pulled the contorted form, _**HER** _ form, free from the tree. He held the corpse, _**HER** _ corpse, in his arms, the lingering heat seeping into him, reminding the Captain how not that long ago life still filled this body, _**HER** _ body.

Gently, Levi laid the figure down on the outstretched blanket, crossing the hands, _**HER**_ soft, delicate hands, across the stomach before he moved to close the eyes, _**HER**_ eyes. Looking down, those deep pools should have been dead, cold and lifeless, signifying there was nothing left, but that wasn’t the case. No, all he saw warmth and life, an illusion of what once used to be. He knew better, that it was no longer there, that it was never coming back, but that didn’t change what he saw in his mind.

Damn it.

This was nothing more than one of the fallen. _**No, she wasn’t.**_ Nothing more than a nameless face of the dead. _**She had a name.** _ Nothing more than a soldier who had willingly laid down their life for the cause. _**She wasn’t a martyr.**_ This wasn’t a person. _**She was more.**_ This wasn’t an individual. _**She was so much more.**_ It was just another count in a rising death toll. _**This was Petra.**_

With a heavy sigh, Levi closed the fallen soldier’s eyes, _**HER**_ beautiful eyes, his fingers lingering against the skin, savoring the cooling warmth that leached into his flesh. This was the last moment, _**his last moment with HER,**_ and the Captain allowed himself, just this once, to be human.

In the deafening silence, a single drop fell, landing upon the pale cheek of the dead, _**HER**_ pale cheek.

Steadying his trembling and shaking hands, the Captain took a deep breath and folded one side of the blanket over the corpse, _**HER**_ corpse, tucking the edge under the body, _**HER**_ body, before repeating the same on the other side, fully wrapping up the dead.

It was done.

_**She was gone.** _

Taking the body, _**HER**_ body, Humanity’s Strongest picked the fallen up from the ground, carrying it, no _**HER,**_ in his arms, hugging the corpse, _**HER**_ corpse, to his chest. For the first time in a long time, Levi found himself wishing things were different. He should have told her, but it was too late and now it would never happen. The Captain quickly shook the troublesome thought from his head as he walked toward the cart, accepting the consequences of his actions as he laid the body, _**Petra’s body,**_ in the pile. Living a life with no regrets was a difficult thing to do, especially when the best things in life kept leaving him behind.


End file.
